Denton City Council Approves Forward Movement on Bicycle & Pedestrian Corridor on Part of Bell Avenue
Crosswalk on Bell Avenue between Chapel Drive and Administration Drive.
The Denton City Council approved moving forward with a proposed automobile-free bicycle and pedestrian corridor on 550 feet of Bell Avenue between Chapel Drive and Administration Drive on the campus of Texas Woman’s University (TWU). The rest of Bell Avenue will remain open to automobile traffic.
Automobile traffic will be allowed on all but 550 feet of Bell Avenue. Emergency vehicles will retain access to the entire corridor.
The project comes from a goal to “prioritize the Denton on-campus pedestrian experience with an auto-free core” as part of the university’s master plan. TWU is currently expanding into its former golf course and anticipates an uptick in the number of people crossing Bell Avenue back and forth, according to a presentation by TWU President, Carine Feyten.
Slide from TWU President Feyten’s presentation to the Denton City Council on August 2, 2022 showing the anticipated expansion of campus into its former gold course.
Universities are often the most walkable places in cities that have them. Much of this is due to the lack of automobile traffic in the core of campus that creates a quieter, safer environment. Most universities in the U.S., both public and private, allow the general public to walk or bike around the campus to enjoy a pedestrian-focused environment that is rarely found elsewhere in many cities and towns across the country.
The Bell Avenue bicycle and pedestrian corridor will retain emergency vehicle access and add a two-way bicycle path along the existing roadway. During a public input meeting on October 6, representatives from the city’s police and fire departments stated they expect the project to improve their response times by reducing the number of automobiles in the corridor that currently stack up and delay emergency vehicles.
One half of the road will be dedicated to emergency vehicles and one half will be provide two-way bicycle traffic.
In early October, staff from TWU and the City held a joint virtual public input meeting on the project. In addition to the public input meeting, the city offered an opinion poll that provided a single photo of the proposed design with no other context and allowed members of the public to indicate their support or opposition to the project. Of the approximately 450 responses, 55 percent opposed the project while 45 percent indicated they were in favor.
Open full opinion survey responses document [Link downloads a file]
Council Discussion
Council members in favor of moving the project forward were Vicki Byrd (District 1), Gerard Hudspeth (Mayor), Alison Maguire (District 4), Brandon Chase McGee (Place 5 At Large) and Chris Watts (Place 6 At Large).
Council members in opposition of the project were Brian Beck (District 2) and Jesse Davis (District 3).
Davis asked staff about non-fatal incidents along Bell Avenue involving a motorist striking someone outside of a vehicle. Staff responded that since 2012 there have been seven reported collisions of this type on Bell between Mingo Road and University Drive. Of those seven, one was on a segment that touches the TWU campus: Texas Street.
The City does not collect close-call data when a motorist nearly strikes a person or cases where a motorist strikes someone but does not cause enough injury that emergency services are notified.
Based on the provided data, Davis concluded that “This is a campus beautification project, not a safety project. This false dichotomy has been presented to us.”
Davis went on to express frustration at the lack of alternative design options despite his previous requests. He emphasized his belief that there are less expensive alternate options, such as fencing or barriers to restrict the movement of people outside of automobiles or HAWK signals to encourage motorists to stop at crosswalks.
The cost of HAWK signals, pedestrian barriers and other traffic calming along the corridor has not been presented or discussed, so it is unknown whether there is an alternate design that is both effective and cheaper.
Staff estimated the project budget would be approximately $600,000. Davis noted this was the first time he’d heard a budget amount. Staff shared a budget amount about a year ago during a city council work session in September 2021 that Davis attended. During that meeting, staff shared that, in exchange for the Bell Avenue project, TWU offered to provide right-of-way to the city for road expansion projects on Mingo and Ruddell.
Read: City Council Rejects Proposed Auto-Free Bicycle and Pedestrian Corridor on Bell Avenue (09/29/2021)
Estimated budget from Denton City Council work session on September 28, 2021.
Though Beck ultimately opposed the project, he stated he would likely be in support of it once projects on Ruddell and Mingo are complete. “Maybe I can be swayed, but I’m feeling a cart-before-the-horse issue,” Beck said.
Councilmembers who expressed support for the project did so for a variety of reasons.
Byrd, Watts and Hudspeth emphasized the need for the city to work with TWU on this project in order to facilitate the city’s needs on Mingo and Ruddell. The city intends to widen both roadways and will need additional right-of-way from what is currently TWU property. “To have a good partner, we need to be good partners,” stated Watts.
Maguire expressed agreement with Beck’s concerns about the order of projects but ultimately opted to support the project moving forward. “I’m concerned if we don’t give direction today, other improvements will drag on for a long time and maybe never happen,” Maguire said.
Maguire also noted the need to facilitate people in north Denton who either want to or need to travel to places like downtown without an automobile.
Most crossings of University Drive east of Carroll Boulevard are too dangerous and stressful for the majority of Denton residents who are interested in biking more but are too concerned about their safety among automobiles. These dangers contribute to automobile dependency in this neighborhood that inhibits most from using healthier, more affordable transportation options to access destinations south of University Drive.
McGee initially requested another public input meeting to gather more resident feedback. The city manager quickly reminded him that they had hosted a public input meeting as well as an opinion survey after his August request for public input. The survey received about 450 responses, and the public input meeting had 49 attendees, which staff noted was a significant turnout compared to most public input meetings.
After listening to other council members, McGee ultimately shared his support for moving forward with the project. “It’s not a great choice for me, but I want to move forward. I value the relationship between TWU and the City,” McGee concluded.
Similar to August’s discussion about Bell Avenue, Watts and Hudspeth emphasized that the city council had requested that safety be the top priority of the 2022 Mobility Plan. It had originally been listed as the ninth goal of the mobility plan, though staff noted that the goals were not listed in priority order.
Regarding alternate designs, Hudspeth argued that barriers don’t tend to stop people who want to cross. “We have barriers on the highway, and people hop over those. So this idea of barriers for pedestrians makes no sense,” said Hudspeth. “I would rather do this [proposed design] than to put in traffic calming and infrastructure at every block.”
“If we put in all of this traffic calming,” noted Watts, “it will probably delay people more than a minute.” A traffic study for the potential auto-free corridor estimated a one-minute delay during evening rush hour for motorists who might otherwise drive down the 550-foot segment of Bell. Many opponents of the project have indicated that added driving time is a key reason they oppose the auto-free corridor.
Next Steps
City staff often seek consensus from council members before spending time on a more detailed plan. This ensures that staff do not waste time developing a finalized project that ultimately gets voted down by the city council.
Now that staff has consensus from council members to move forward with the Bell Avenue project, they will work to develop a final design, prepare a right-of-way use agreement with TWU and select a contractor who will implement the project.
Certain pieces of the project will come to the city council for a formal vote at some point in the future. A formal vote is required for expenditures over $100,000 and interlocal agreements with entities such as TWU or UNT.
